A Ninja's Intrigue
by Frankizzle
Summary: Storm Shadow is crazy... but just how far will he go? Storm Shadow/OC, T for safety. My own personal take on the ninja enigma that is Storm Shadow.
1. Chapter 1

**This basically a series of drabbles on Storm Shadow, but there is a plot, even though it may not seem like it. If you disagree with my take on him (he's a teensey weensey bit physco) then let me know. Please review! Also, this is** **my first fanfic EVER in the whole wide world so I would really appreciate advice on how to improve my writing.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own GI Joe, I wouldn't be here if I did. I'd be out somewhere commanding ninjas.**

The girl rolls over and mumbles something unintelligible in her sleep, totally oblivious of the white-clad figure standing in the corner of her room. He stands watching her with his head cocked to the side, as if mildly curious. The man looks at her clock.

"03.57"

He has a few more minutes before her alarm goes off, and he is content to just stand there watching her. He finds it rather fascinating that of all the people here at this base, this seemingly insignificant and rather easily dispensable girl is the one that is causing them all their trouble. He stands watching her for a while longer, studying her defined cheekbones, her soft cheeks, her full lips... he isn't being perverted, he tells himself, no, that he definitely isn't. He is merely assessing the enemy. He watches as she again tosses restlessly.

He decides he had better slip out of the base again before more people than necessary wake up. He backs towards the door, and brushes past a chair. It barely makes a sound, but it is enough to wake the sleeping woman from her turbulent sleep. Her eyes fly open, and she sits up with surprising speed. The man in white only just has enough time to slip into the shadows before the girl swings her legs out of bed and stands up cautiously. She creeps slowly towards the door and opens it, looking up and down the hall just as her alarm goes off, signaling 4am. She jumps slightly and goes to turn it off. The man takes the opportunity to slip out of the still open door and sneak out of the base undetected.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

He is following her down the deserted corridor. She is completely oblivious to his presence, but if he doesn't want to be seen, then he won't be seen. She enters her office and he follows just before the door is closed.

He is momentarily stunned by the way she flicks her hair back over her shoulder, but he mentally shakes himself and re-focuses on his mission.

Get the files, get the files, he chants to himself. Get the files and get out.

He waits until she has finished with everything she wants to do, and until she had left the room and locked the door behind her, before he un-wraps himself from the shadows and slips into her chair. He turns on the computer.

Whilst he is waiting for the files to download, he can't help himself thinking about her. The girl he has been watching for some time. The girl who has caught his attention.

But it is not his apprentice. Unfortunately for her, she does not interest him in any way, shape or form. No, it is not her who has caught his attention.

It is the girl he had followed into the room. The girl he has been watching for some time. The girl whose file he now has in his hand, having printed it off from the computer.

He rises fluidly from the chair, and exits the base swiftly, now he has what he had been after.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

He is in his room, in a deep state of meditation, when he hears a soft knock at his door.

"Enter" he calls out. He knows even before he has seen his guest who it is. It will be his apprentice. Again.

"Master" she says, her voice fervent with emotion. Whenever she is near him, her head is in a whirl, her breath comes fast and shallow, and her heart thuds erratically. She is confused. She had always thought of him as a master, as a role model, as someone to look up to, but now she thinks that she wants something more... and she isn't sure why. Maybe it is the way he is determined to get whatever he wants by any means necessary. Maybe it is the way he is ruthlessly harsh to all his apprentices, including her. Maybe it is simply the way in which he carries himself, the way in which he acts. She doesn't know what it is, but she loves it all the same.

Whenever he brutally criticises her, her eyes well up, but not with tears of sorrow - with tears of joy. Whenever he treats her mercilessly on the mats, she is in heaven. And whenever he graces her with a rare word of praise, she feels as though her heart will burst with the pure happiness.

When she looks upon his perfect face, a face so perfect it must have been carved by angels, she can barely remember the reason she has come to his room. She is satisfied just to gaze at him in awed silence. That is, until he grows impatient and turns to snap at her.

"Is there a reason you came in here, or are you just going to stand there and stare all day?" the melodic sound of his voice catches her off guard, and she is dazed for a moment before she gathers herself.

"Yes master" she gushes "I was wondering if you might consent to a extra sparring session with me today, um..." she falters at his cold gaze "I want to... to make sure I have the technique we learnt today per-... perfected"

He stares at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed, before giving her a curt nod.

"But not yet. I have other things I wish to do." She does not reply straight away, and his face is decorated by the frustrated and impatient expression that makes her heart truly melt. She realises what she is doing, and replies.

"Yes, thank you, master" She bows low, so low she almost falls over, and leaves his room. Whenever she thinks of the fact that she will soon have a private training session with him, her heart does excited, frightened little flips.

Once he is sure she has definitely gone, and her footsteps have faded away, he walks over to his drawers and takes out the files he stole. He sits for a length of time, he is not too sure exactly how long, just looking at the pictures included in her file. He has discarded the others for the time being, for as they may be more important and useful, the girls file is infinitely more interesting.

He is not sure what it is about her. He has questioned himself about her, about his feelings towards her, and he is quite sure that he does not find her physically attractive or appealing... no, he is almost positive that he finds her merely intriguing. And this scares him slightly. He needs to be in control of everything. Absolutely everything. And he is not in control of this.

No. He certainly does not have any control over this girl, or his intrigue.

**Thankyou so much for reading!**

**so yes, now you've read it, please, please, PLEASE review! criticisms, compliments (ha!), flames, i dont mind, just press the green button and make my day.**


	2. Chapter 2

**many, many, many thanks to my beautiful reviewers (i'm pretty proud of the plural). you have no idea how happy reviews make me. i actually squealed this morning when i checked my inbox... (awkward silence)**

**anyway, to willwrite4fics - i see what you mean, i re-read it and the fact that she could affect him so strongly and so suddenly does seem faintly ridiculous, and the apprentice does get a bit irritating. so in this chapter, i've tried to include less of the apprentice, and with Storm Shadow i've tried to focus on the physco part, instead of his obsession. hopefully its worked. let me know if this seems more believable than the last chapter. i've also found that i prefer writing physco storm shadow :D**

**Disclaimer - I don't own GI Joe, I wouldn't be here if I did. I'd be out somewhere commanding ninjas.**

He is clinging to the shadows on the ceiling, waiting for his target to be alone.

Finally, the girl his target was speaking to nods, salutes and leaves the room. He takes the opportunity to drop down onto the floor behind his target, silent as a ghost. He draws his katana and is about to skewer the target when he hears a sharp intake of breath to his left. He turns and mentally curses himself when he sees the girl standing there, frozen in shock. She has come back for whatever reason, and now his target is turning around and has realised he has a ninja stood right behind him, ready to kill him.

Storm Shadow knows he must act fast, for shock can only freeze them for so long, and soon one of them will come to their senses and either try to kill him or raise the alarm.

He can't be bothered to kill practically all the soldiers in the base, and he really isn't in the mood to be dodging bullets, so he pinches one of the man's sleeping points. Before he crumples to the floor, Storm Shadow is already by the girl, pinching her sleeping points, before she can even fully register what is even going on. He catches her as she falls towards the floor.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Her master should have been back by now. She is pacing up and down, outside his room, waiting for him. He should be back. Has something gone wrong? Has something happened to him? She pushes these questions away. No. Nothing could go wrong when her master is involved, and nothing could ever happen to him. Still, she cannot help but feel worried.

She hears the noise of a jet pack landing, and the sound of voices. She hears her master's unmistakable voice much clearer than anyone else's. Relief sweeps through her. Her master is completely fine.

She rushes to where the noises were coming from, and spots her master striding away from her.

"Master!" she calls out. He turns to face her, and waits for her to catch up. He begins walking again, and she follows at his side.

"What kept you, master? Did something go wrong?"

"You could say that" he responds.

"But you are okay?" she persists.

"Why do you ask?" this causes her to go bright red, stare and her feet and say nothing. He smirks smugly.

After a while, she speaks up again "Where are we going, master?" they have been striding along at quite a pace, and her master seems to be very purposeful, so she knows they do have an end destination.

"I am going to introduce you to the reason why I was late" she is confused. Introduce her to? That must mean the reason is a person then, and that he had been forced to capture the person. Does this mean that he ran into someone from another ninja clan? Or even his own clan? She is withdrawn from her speculations by her master.

"Do not try to figure it out. You will only get it wrong" that comment hurts her more than he knows, but she is not going to show any sort of weakness in front of her master, so she just nods.

They walk through several sets of heavy, metal, guarded doors before her master stops in front of one of the interrogation rooms which have two way mirrors. She finds herself looking at a unconscious girl of slight build, most likely no older than herself, tied to a chair. There are a couple of soldiers in the room with them.

"Master?" she looks up at him, asking for an explanation.

"I was waiting until the target was alone. When I thought he was, I revealed myself and got ready to kill him. She walked in, so I had to bring them both here"

"Your target is here also, master?"

"Yes" he snaps irritably. She knows when he has had enough of her, so she steps away slightly.

"How have they been?" he asks one of the soldiers in the room.

"We moved the male as soon as he woke up, which was about 5 minutes ago. As for her" he says, gesturing towards the girl "her pulse rate is good and steady, her breathing is regular, but she hasn't woken up yet"

Her master nods, and seems to think about something for a moment.

"Where is the male?" he asks.

"He is in one of the other holding cells. Do you wish to arrange a visit?"

"Yes." This is his only answer, and the soldier is disappointed; he was expecting some sort of explanation or reason.

"Very well. Straight away?"

Storm Shadow nods, and the soldier hurries himself to organize the interview.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

The general looks up as his would-be assassinator walks into the room, dressed entirely in white. The man sits himself down in front of the general, and bores into what feels like his very soul with cold, hard eyes.

"Where is she?" he asks, his voice even colder than his gaze.

"What?" the general splutters.

"Where is she?" the man repeats.

"I don't understand what you mean" the man looks at him for a moment, chilling him to the bone with his stare, before he speaks again.

"The Baroness. Where is she?"

"Who?"

"Ana Lewis. Where is she?"

"I have no idea who you mean" says the general.

The man leans forward, into the general's face.

"Lets not play games, general" his voice is silky and soft "I know you know where she is, and you are going to tell me" a deadly smile appears slowly on his face "because I can play very, _very _well."

The general is paralyzed in pure, undiluted terror. If anyone else other than this man had said that to him, he would have laughed in their face and told them to go shove their threats at someone different. But not this man. There is something in the way he acts, and a weird, maniacal glint in his eyes, that convinces him this is no idle threat. This man really does know how to play. He gulps audibly.

However, the general is a brave and loyal man, and he won't surrender any information to the enemy as a rule. He makes an effort to control the shaking of his hands, and he sets his jaw. The man in white sighs.

"So its going to be like that, is it, general?" he makes a show of looking disappointed, but his eyes are alight with excitement "Very well. But remember, you brought what follows on yourself" with a wicked smile, he leaves the room, and leaves the general feeling even more terrified than before.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

The man in white re-enters the room, carrying only a knife. The general is confused. He expected him to bring in several different types of torture devices...

"What's the matter, general?" he says "wondering why I don't have some form of equipment?"

The general doesn't reply, and the man in white smirks and continues.

"Do not worry yourself. I have quite enough here" he moves the knife from side to side in front of the general.

He begins to move the knife closer to the generals fore-arm, so slowly it looks like its moving backwards. As the knife travels, he doesn't take his eyes from the generals face, as if he is enjoying the tension and fear he can see there. The general watches the knifes progress with terrified eyes, and he can't seem to tear away his gaze. He knows what is about to happen, and he struggles against the tight ropes that bind him to the chair with all his strength, but its no use: his arm stays in exactly the same place.

After what seems like an age, the knife reaches the generals fore-arm. The man in white presses the tip down gently, just enough to pierce the skin. A drop of blood starts to form. He presses the knife in deeper, and the blood wells. He uses the tip to trace a circle of crimson on the generals tensed arm. After each circle, he pushes the knife down harder. As the man in white feels the knife slice through some muscle tendons, the general lets out a low hiss. His eyes are closed and his face is distorted by a pained grimace. Deeper and deeper the knife goes, and eventually he feels it scrape against bone. He carves one more circle, then withdraws the knife and sits back to observe the general.

He is breathing heavily, his head is drenched in sweat from the effort he put into not crying out, and his fists are clenched so tightly the skin stretched over his knuckles has gone white. This is not helping to prevent the blood flowing from his arm.

"Well, I have to admit it, general. You're tougher than you look."

The general looks up at him, confused.

"Unfortunately for you, I am as persistent as you are tough. So this could go on for a while. Unless you give me the information I need."

The general smiles up at him, and the smile is drained and sickly.

"Do your worst"

The man in white shrugs, and something vicious gleams in his eyes.

"As you wish, general"

The man in white leans towards the general once more, and moments later his screaming begins.

**once again, thanks for reading!**

**what do you think? is it believable? just press the green button and make my day :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry if anyone wanted a scene including Storm Shadow and 'the girl', but I felt like more torture for the general. Call me wierd, but thats the way it is. Also, I might not be able to update for a while, lots of assignments coming up. Yeah, I can barely contain my excitement (she said sarcastically).**

**Disclaimer - I don't own GI Joe, I wouldn't be here if I did. I'd be out somewhere commanding ninjas.**

* * *

The general has come to dread the times when the man in white enters his holding cell. It means he is about to experience the most sadistic torture he has ever encountered or heard of.

_The man in white rolled back the general's sleeve. He raised the thick metal bar and smiled expectantly, before bringing it crashing down onto the generals elbow. The man heard the bones shatter before he heard the general's howl._

_The general looked down at his arm, and almost vomited when he saw a piece of bone piercing his skin. The man was staring at it, in a fascinated way._

Some times, it is quite short. Just 10 minute sessions. Hardly what you would call pleasant, but quite easy to deal with.

But other times, the man can torture him for so long he loses track of the time. It all blurs into one, impossibly painful haze. Like the last time the man in white visited him.

He is still recovering from it. Not only physically, but mentally also. It was the most agonising experience of his life.

_When the man had come in, he had looked happier than usual. The general remembers thinking that it could not be good, his imprisoner looking this happy. That this visit would not end well._

The general tries to shift himself into a more comfortable position, and as he does so pain bounces all around his aching head. He grimaces and just manages to stop himself letting out a groan. He wonders if the girl captured with him is okay. He hopes she is. She had always seemed like such a delicate, breakable little thing when they were at base. He hopes they haven't done to her what they have done to him...

_The man smiled when he sat down in front of the general, and his eyes were dancing with delight. His smile grew wider as he unwrapped something from a cloth to show the general._

_"Now, general" he said "You have been most uncooperative so far. Hopefully, today I will be able to change your attitude." He held up the mystery item in the cloth to show the general, and the general was instantly relieved when he saw it was just the usual knife. This was quickly replaced by fear - were there any tortures left with a knife that hadn't already been performed on him? He eyed the knife with trepidation._

He licks his bone-dry bottom lip, and cautiously places his tongue where his upper lip used to be. He winces.

Still tender.

His thoughts drift back to his wife and two sons. He is going to die here, he is positive of that. In fact, he is sure that he would be dead already, if he didn't know so much about the where-abouts of Ana Lewis and the organisation formerly known as COBRA...

_He screamed in pain as the knife was slashed across his upper lip. He immediately tasted his own blood flowing freely into his mouth. The pain was excruciating._

How will his wife cope without a husband? He was never perfect, but he knows that she has always loved him. Even when his work had took him all over the place, she had always stuck by him. Traveled with him. And even when they had shouted at each other, screamed they never wanted to see each other again, in their early days, they had both known deep down that neither or them meant it.

_The blood dribbled down his chin and soaked into his shirt. The man in white's eyes had never left his face, as though he was intrigued by his agony._

How will his sons cope without a father? He and the boys had shared a special bond. They had done everything together, absolutely everything. The general sighs a sigh of regret and feels his eyes welling up at the thought of the family he is surely going to lose.

_The man placed the tip of the knife by the entrance to the generals ear._

_"Are you sure you have nothing to tell me, general?" he gave a firm nod, and the man in white sighed theatrically._

_"Very well then" he said, before shoving the knife an inch forward. It was only an inch, but it was enough to make the general shout out and try desperately to move his head. The man in white rotated the knife, and studied his face, as though memorising what his pain looked like._

However, he has already decided not to waste what are surely going to be his last hours on what-could-have-beens and what-ifs. Instead, he concentrates on remembering the happy times he has shared with his family.

He is pulled from his memories by the sound of the door opening. He looks up to see the man in white closing the door, carrying a bag. He has had a table put out today also.

He sets the bag down on the table, and proceeds to place the contents on the table. He sets out a shallow bowl, a white cloth, a small bottle of a clear liquid which the general hopes is just water and the customary knife. The man empties the bottle into the basin.

"I am giving you one last chance to tell me where Ana Lewis has been moved to" the man says, staring straight into the generals eyes. The general feels a thrill of fear course through him, but he stays silent.

After about 10 long, dragging seconds, the man in white grins dementedly, and dips the cloth into the mystery liquid. Then, in a movement so fast the general can't even follow it with his eyes, he wipes the cloth across the area where the general's upper lip used to be.

The man withdraws it equally fast, and suddenly the general is aware of an acute burning sensation where the cloth was wiped. He screams. And he screams. And he screams. As the burning begins to lessen, the man wipes his mouth with the cloth again.

The general scrunches up his eyes in an effort to prevent the tears escaping. He feels as though his mutilated lip is on fire. He truly never has felt any pain like this. Ever. The cloth is dabbed again. The burning intensifies. The general screams until he is hoarse.

Finally, the man stops dabbing the cloth. He watches the general as he recovers himself from his latest torment.

"Do you know what that was general? That was merely water, saturated with salt. Just imagine what I could do with acid..." The general lets out an involuntary shiver.

"I doubt you'll get to find out, however" he continues, before unsheathing his katana in one smooth movement and slicing the generals head off.

The generals last thought as he slips away is of the family he is leaving behind.

The man in white observes the generals dismembered corpse for a moment, before sheathing his sword and stalking from the room.

* * *

**So what do you think? Is it believable? Did it go on for a bit? Is Storm Shadow acting OOC? Review guys, it encourages faster updates! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN - Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've had a bit of a writers block. I don't know if this chapter fits in with the whole flow of the rest of the story, let me know if it doesn't. I figured you guys needed an explanation about why Storm Shadow is acting as crazy as he is. He has been a bit OOC. Review please!**

**I can't remember if I've said this before, but anyway, this is set in the movieverse, just in case theres any confusion.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own GI Joe, I wouldn't be here if I did. I'd be out somewhere commanding ninjas.**

* * *

Storm Shadow silently closes the door of his room, and what he has just done finally catches up with him. He can't even remember all he did in that room... the last thing he remembers doing is setting out salt water and various other items onto a table...

Salt water...

And then he remembers. He remembers the mans screams. His eyes go wide as he realises just how cruel he was to that unfortunate gentleman. Was that really necessary? He had thought so at the time, but he isn't too sure now. He killed an innocent man... he killed an innocent man without a second thought. He hadn't even paused.

"What's happening to me?" he whispers to no-one in-particular.

He wasn't like this before.

_The mist swirls around his feet as we strides towards his destination. Wait a moment, what was that over there? Was something moving in the shadows? He dismisses the thought and carries on, turning down a dark alleyway._

_No wait, he definitely saw something then. a slight stirring of the shadows. He hears a faint rustling. He looks around him warily, ready at any moment for this anonymous stalker to leap from the darkness and attack him. When he is sure no attack is forthcoming, he continues, almost twice as fast as before._

He suddenly feels dizzy and has to put his hand against the wall to steady himself. What's happening to him?

_He arrives at his destination slightly earlier than the meeting time. He hears near-silent footsteps slowly, painfully slowly, getting louder and louder. He can tell by the quietness of the footsteps that it is indeed a fellow ninja who has decided to follow him. He hears the ninja's steady heartbeat. He can tell by the familiar pattern that he has definitely heard this before... definitely heard this many times before... He guesses it is a member of the Arashikage clan, trying to avenge the Hard Masters death. Before he can deduce anything further, he hears the ninja draw his swords and rush at him. Storm Shadow whips round, unsheathing his own swords as he spins, to block his opponents strike. He almost drops his weapon in shock when he sees who it is behind the attack._

_"Master?" he says softly, looking into the hardened, hatred-filled eyes of the Soft Master, which were once so warm and open._

_"You are no student of mine" spits the Soft Master, and Storm Shadow is shocked by the pure venom and viciousness in his voice. The Soft Master tries to strike Storm Shadow again and again, and he is forced to block and twist and duck and dodge until he can manage to temporarily halt the Soft Masters attacks._

_"Please, just listen to me," Storm Shadow pleads. "I can explain everything."_

_"I don't care what you have to say. Nothing you say can explain what you did" the Soft Master snarls._

He tries to force himself away from dredging up old memories, and walks into the middle of his room. He sits down in precisely the middle of the light, open space in the lotus position. He begins to meditate, empty his mind, think of nothing, to concentrate solely on the rhythmic beating of his own heart and the steady sound of his own breathing. He feels himself slipping into numbness and smiles inwardly at his success.

But then, just as he thought he had escaped the unwanted memories that keep invading his thoughts, the images bully their way into his mind again.

_"Please! Listen!" Storm Shadow implores, a faint note of hysteria in his voice. "You don't understand!"_

_"I've been understanding enough of you in my life, Thomas Arashikage" he growls. He spits out Storm Shadow's name as though it is something distasteful. "Now I've had enough"_

_Storm Shadow cries out in protest as the Soft Master goes in for the kill. He blocks and dodges, and then everything goes blank. The next thing he remembers is withdrawing his katana from the Soft Masters chest, and the Soft Master slumping down to his feet. As the blood seeps through his old teachers white clothing, Storm Shadow comes to his senses and realises what he has done._

_He lets out an anguish filled, animalistic scream and crumples to the floor beside the man who had looked after him all his life, been more like a dad to him than anyone else, even his biological father, given him solutions to his problems, nurtured his talent, explained the Hard Masters decisions..._

And another cruel fact of his life comes crashing down on him. He killed the Hard Master too. He lets out a quieter cry this time, more of a low sob, and hunches over the Soft Masters body, his tears mixing with the blood, which is still soaking the clothes.

Storm Shadow resurfaces from the suffocating memories. He raises a shaking hand to his cheek and feels that it is wet with tears. He takes a deep, shaky breath and tries desperately to repress the pain and sorrow, but he fails. He fails, and the tears start streaming silently down his cheeks.

He killed them! He killed them both, two of the very few people he had ever respected in his life... and for what? For petty, childish jealousy.

He doesn't know how long he sits there, drowning in the regret and the grief, but when he finally regains control of himself there is little sound in the base and his eyes are red and puffy.

He finally manages to push his thoughts away from the truly painful subject, and returns to a relative numbness. He tries to convince himself he's fine now. But he doesn't realise that his mind has been slowly but steadily disintegrating ever since his fateful meeting with the Soft Master.

Whats happening to him?

* * *

**AN - So what did you think? Did this explain why Storm Shadow has been acting the way he as? Did the characters act as they should? I didn't really know how to do the interaction between the Soft Master and Storm Shadow, so I hope this is okay.**

**Readers are wonderful, but reviewers are truly gods amongst men!**


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